The 30 richest colleges in America

University endowments support a school's operating budget and help it invest in its future, from providing scholarships and financial aid to funding research and other initiatives. The richest colleges, frequently the most prestigious, can offer more of these opportunities to their students and community, giving them a leg up in recruitment and helping them burnish their academic reputation.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a US government organization that collects and analyzes education data, provided Business Insider with the most recent figures on US college endowments (the fiscal year ending in October 2014). It also provided its most recent data on the annual cost for a student to attend each college while living on campus.

Harvard University isn't just one of the top schools in the country academically, it also has the largest endowment of any American college with $36 billion — that's $13 billion more than the second-richest school, Yale University.

The following 30 colleges all have endowments of more than $2.9 billion, making them the richest in America.

30. University of Washington

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Location: Seattle, Washington

Endowment: $2.92 billion

Tuition: $26,698 (in-state); $47,817 (out-of-state)

Founded in 1861, UW is made up of three campuses: Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell — Seattle is the university’s main campus and boasts the largest endowment. UW's alumni include 136 Fulbright Scholars, 35 Rhodes Scholars, seven Marshall Scholars, and four Gates Cambridge Scholars. Preserving the environment is a priority for the school — it launched the UW Sustainability program in 2008 to promote projects that promote resource conservation and behavior change.

29. University of Minnesota at Twin Cities

The more than 30,000 students who attend the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities learn from accomplished professors who have won Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes, and MacArthur Fellowships, among other awards. UMN graduates go on to impressive feats as well: Alumni have started over 10,000 companies, generating a combined $100 billion in revenue.

26. The University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas has nearly half a million alumni all touting Longhorn pride, including Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, filmmaker Wes Anderson, late-journalist Walter Cronkite, and many members of the Bush family.

24. New York University

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Location: New York, New York

Endowment: $3.44 billion

Total cost: $66,022

The largest private research university in the US, NYU has over 40,000 students not only in New York but in cities all over the world, including Abu Dhabi and Shanghai. Its renowned Tisch School of the Arts has churned out notable alumni such as Martin Scorsese and Alec Baldwin. The university's Stern School of Business is one of the 20 best business schools in the world.

23. University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh alumni include seven Rhodes Scholars, 11 Truman Scholars, and more than 84 Fulbright Scholars. Undergraduates can choose between nearly 100 majors, including everything from neuroscience to anthropology to a self-designed program that allow students to combine courses across departments and schools.

22. Ohio State University

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Location: Columbus, Ohio

Endowment: $3.6 billion

Total cost:$25,785 (in-state); $42,285 (out-of-state)

With 15 colleges and 200 majors, OSU has a lot to offer its more than 44,700 undergraduates. OSU’s biological and agricultural engineering program is recognized by U.S. News as one of the best in the nation. There's also more than 115 master's programs available at the graduate level. The school, which is one of the largest college campuses in the US, has longstanding roots in research, particularly in cancer, infectious disease, and advanced materials.

21. Vanderbilt University

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Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Endowment: $4.05 billion

Total cost: $62,320

Vanderbilt prides itself on being ranked No. 1 on the list of schools with the happiest students by Princeton Review. With over 200 music venues surrounding the school’s campus, Music City provides the university's students with a lush playground for exploration. The options don’t stop there, about 40% of Vanderbilt’s students choose to study abroad with one of the university’s more than 120 programs available in 36 countries on six continents.

20. Dartmouth College

Dartmouth’s unique flexible calendar — comprised of four 10-week terms — allows students freedom to pursue opportunities both on and off campus. This includes immersive language programs, exchange programs at partner institutions everywhere from San Diego to Milan, and foreign study programs that put students at the heart of their field of study, whether it be biology in South America or the theater scene in London.

Dartmouth also allows students interested in multiple subjects to combine programs to create a specialized modified major.

17. Rice University

Known for its strong science and engineering programs, Rice University places an emphasis on undergraduate research and leadership development for all students. Students not only learn from distinguished faculty in the classroom, but have abundant opportunities to benefit from their knowledge outside of it as well as through faculty-led research ventures, service projects through the Center for Civic Leadership, and day-to-day life in their residential colleges.

15. University of Chicago

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Location: Chicago, Illinois

Endowment: $6.54 billion

Total cost:$67,572

Started in 1890, University of Chicago was the first school in the US to offer a graduate international affairs program and an executive MBA program. Its approximately 6,000 undergraduates have the option to choose from 51 majors and 33 minors that include biological chemistry, Slavic languages and literature, and theater and performance studies. It's also home to the No. 2 business school in the world.The school provides about $100 million annually in financial assistance, whether based on need or merit.

14. Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis welcomes a diverse group of students, with undergraduates hailing from over 80 countries and all 50 US states. Students engage in a variety-laden education as well: Three-quarters of undergrads pursue multiple majors or degrees, and the school offers study abroad programs in more than 50 countries.

12. Duke University

At 90%, Duke's student athletes boast the highest graduation rate in NCAA Division 1 athletics. They’ve also won a total of 33 individual and national team championships, including the men's 2015 NCAA basketball tournament.

11. Northwestern University

At Northwestern, students can take advantage of a number of interdisciplinary programs and research opportunities, such as the Knight Lab, where reporters, editors, and designers combine journalism and technology to create new innovations on traditional news sources. The office of undergraduate research also helps connect students with projects and programs that relate to their field of study, helping students gain valuable hands-on research experience.

10. University of Notre Dame

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Location: Notre Dame, Indiana

Endowment: $8.19 billion

Total cost:$62,461

The historically-Catholic institution has long been revered for its excellence in teaching and scholarship. The school’s oldest and largest college, the College of Arts and Letters, has 20 academic departments offering more than 50 undergraduate majors and minors, in addition to 20 graduate programs. To date, 23 Notre Dame faculty have been elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

9. Columbia University

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Location: New York, New York

Endowment: $9.22 billion

Total cost: $66,604

Columbia counts 82 Nobel Laureates among its esteemed alumni and faculty, including two US presidents. The Ivy League school also features several prestigious graduate programs for students planning to continue their education, including top-ranked law, business, engineering, and medical schools. With an acceptance rate of 6% in 2016, it's also one of the hardest schools to get into.

6. Texas A&M University at College Station

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Location: College Station, Texas

Endowment: $10.52 billion

Total cost: $22,975 (in-state); $39,837 (out-of-state)

Founded in 1876, Texas A&M was the first public school for higher education in the state. A university that prides itself on being focused on research, it was also one of the first institutions to be given a triple grant designation — land, sea, and space grants are given to colleges where studies focus on agriculture, water conservation, and space travel. It’s also one of the country’s largest universities, with over 64,000 students enrolled in during the fall of 2015.

The school has a host of notable alumni as well, including Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner and New York Times economics columnist, and former-astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

4. Princeton University

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Location: Princeton, New Jersey

Endowment: $20.58 billion

Total cost:$58,965

The fourth-richest college in the US is also the fourth-oldest, founded in 1746. The esteemed research university provides approximately 60% of students with financial aid, enabling them to choose from 36 majors and participate in 50 interdisciplinary programs. Last year, Princeton accepted just 7% of applicants to its undergraduate program.

2. Yale University

Accepting just 6% of applicants, Yale offers an elite education in over 80 fields of study. Last year, the school was awarded $1 million in funding for undergraduate science research fellowships, during which students have patented new products, co-authored original research, and developed new technologies. The school also covers 100% of the demonstrated financial need of its students; 83% of the class of 2015 graduated without student debt.

Yale counts five former presidents among its distinguished alumni: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.